Feedback Needed

Hello, we are a group of students at a middle school in Bloomington, Indiana. We are interested in getting involved in the OLPC program. We are currently coming up with ideas on how to raise money to buy the laptops. When we do get the money to buy the laptops, we want to send the laptops to a school in Lesotho.

Our class decided to do this because we believe that every little bit would help. We can not bear to know that some children do not have the basic tools to further their education. We believe that if we can make someone else’s life better, we have met our goal. We were wondering what suggestions that you might have for us. If you do have any, please post just under this article. Thank You.

I am replying. I cannot see how else to get my message through but for this. The following are ways anyone can raise money:

If each person in class pledged themselves to raise money for one computer, this should work.

Approach a local old age home/nursing home/retirement village and

offer to shop, paid by hour, for pensioners/older disabled people.

Offer to teach them how to use a computer if they buy one from ebaY.

Offer to do odd jobs for them.

Get into local pre-schools.

Offer to teach one child to read or use a computer if their parents donate enough to buy one computer when you prove the child can read.

Offer to do baby sitting, get your parents or some adult to be present when and where you are doing that.

Get enough together to buy one computer and raffle it or use it for demonstration and a talk in the local churches where you ask for donations.

Hold a dance or party.

Fine anyone in class that does not get at least eighty percent in any subject, and collect the fines. Offer also to coach anyone who feels they cannot do that, and make them pay money or donate time by being a slave, by which I mean, doing what you want and ask them to do.

Offer the usual services: gardening, cleaning, mending.

If it is legal in your state or country, try busking. On a more grandiose scale, you could put on a show.

Get your family to have a meat-free day and to donate what they save that day towards your cause. Incidentally, this will also help combat global warming. If you have a school canteen you eat in, do the same there and collect what is saved on a meat-free day.

These are good ideas and would do a lot to raise awareness about a worthy project by your commitment to support it. Once you have a team committed to a written plan, submit an application to the Contributors Program. Maybe you'll find some collaborators who can help with other support and deployment activities. --FGrose 18:09, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

A Note of Context

TRIAL-2 is just now getting started, so most of these links (currently all) are from TRIAL-1. Which mostly used very limited (pre-alpha) software, on mainly early, more limited hardware prototypes. So the answer to why they aren't making greater use of their Journals, and online collaborative capabilities, is they mostly didn't have them yet.

School collections

Some of these trial schools have already set up their own school server and aggregator for hosting materials made by their students. See for instance the AMADIS system from the Porto Alegre school.

Is this an OLPC-maintained page? Then kindly put under it that category.

Old comments

Thank you. Then as to "playing" the content, would you have specifications, like what browser to expect and the plugins? We have to know this because of the limited resources we have in the machine. Somewhere it was already said that Java will not be there, so will there be any SCORM adaptation for OLPC? - User:Raffy

Audiobooks and Speech recordings

I would like to bring LibriVox (http://www.librivox.org) to your attention. LibriVox is an online community devoted to the production of public domain audio books, from copyright free published works, many of which are drawn from the gutenberg project. All of these recordings, which now number several hundred, range from complete novels to poetry, are in several languages, and are hosted at archive.org in ogg format, amongst others.
The LibriVox community is a vigorous one, with over 70 projects completed in March of this year alone. I would invite the OLPC community to view the catalogue, and if any spoken word recordings were especially wanted for the project, I dare say many LibriVoxers would be very happy to consider helping such a worthy cause. User:ChrisHughes

"Muammar Qaddafi plans to give one to every schoolchild in Libya. Shimon Peres hopes to do something similar for Palestinian kids in the West Bank.

Negroponte has also seduced

I hope that is not the word they meant. --Mokurai 05:15, 5 November 2006 (EST)

the leaders of Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria and - until the recent coup - Thailand with his vision. Each says he wants at least a million for his country's children. And serious talks are underway with Ethiopia, Indonesia, Mexico, Vietnam and others."

Only Nigeria perhaps counts as a country where English is widely spoken.

I sincerely don't mean to be negative at all, but surely it can't be the case that you are requiring each student to learn English, even a very simple variant of it, before they can learn Algebra.

The idea is not to have a single Algebra book that somehow gets the OLPC stamp of approval, and is written in one language and then translated into others. It is to have books in various languages and sources available to teachers and students. The existence of an English Algebra text does not mean there will be no other Algebra texts formatted for the OLPC, in English or in other languages. Sjtalk

I would suggest that one important reason why the texbook is being written in English because that is the only language that the potential authors share. It makes no sense to think of writing it in Arabic first (even if Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khowarizmi wrote the first algebra book, Kitab al-jabr w'al-muqabali, in Arabic) and then translate to English, Hebrew, and other languages from there. It would make sense to have an illustrative page from al-Khowarizmi in the new book, though. --Mokurai 05:15, 5 November 2006 (EST)

Give a Child an XO and She'll Eat for a Lifetime?

I don't think you guys understand what a terrible idea this is. Think about all the problems facing Africa right now - the genocide in Darfur, the AIDS epidemic, widespread poverty and hunger. How can you possibly justify spending this much money on laptops? I know it's supposed to be educational, but education is kind of useless when you're dead. I would suggest stopping this project immediately and donating all of your resources to something that may actually benefit mankind.

This was an anonymous comment posted on the article page that I have moved to the discussion page. In response, OLPC is certainly not in denial about the many problems people in developing countries (and elsewhere) face: war, hunger, etc. If you are at war, your first priority must be peace. If you are starving your first priority must be food. Beyond that, we argue that learning is an essential factor in addressing the litany of problems you present. It is not the solution in and of itself, rather it is an integral part of the agency for large-scale change. We at OLPC are working on that aspect of the problem. We encourage others to work with us or on other aspects of the problem. To paint it as an either-or choice for the world is not a fair characterization. The world spends many order of magnitude on endeavours that arguably have less potential upside. That said, we welcome concrete suggestions as to how we can best ensure the maximum positive impact of the project. --Walter 03:02, 7 December 2006 (EST)

"To paint it as an either-or choice for the world is not a fair characterization." There is certainly an either-or choice at hand. Either spend absurd sums of money on the research and manufacturing necessary to produce these laptops, or spend money to directly improve the lives of suffering people. Making the laptops edible may salvage the project however.

I don't think you (anonymous contributor) realize the problem facing the world (not just Africa). The problems you mention, as dire and anguishing as they are, are the problems that usually make it to 'western media and news outlets'. There are thousands of little problems that actually stop the machinery from working. Education has always been regarded as the best multi-purpose tool to solve problems because it sets you in a path or way of thinking that probably somebody, somewhere, somehow has probably developed a solution for a problem similar to yours that you can learn from. Besides, there are millions of kids that already have enough food, but no education. It would be a waste not to educate them properly or give them a better chance at it... Development is not an unidimensional problem. The problems you mention have to be dealt with too, education is one of the tools; medicines and grain by themselves will not solve them. --Xavi 06:36, 7 December 2006 (EST)

Improving site organization - Content contribution storyboarding?

My greatest problem has been searching for places to put things, and not finding good choices. If there is a statement of vision of how this is all to be organized, I missed it. It could be useful to do a set of "user stories" for content contribution. It might include:

There's some talk about things to do in OLPCWiki talk:Community Portal... I'm currently trying to obtain a better categorization of the pages and the hierarchies they involve. In the short run, that's relatively simple (tagging pages), but in the medium-long run it should involve lots of cut-and-paste... with constant attention until it takes a clear shape—I would say like making a bonsaii (if I knew what it really takes ;)

I would really like to help doing this, and any suggestions or ideas will be appreciated. I've traced some of the discussions about the subject (in my user page).--Xavi 00:42, 13 January 2007 (EST)

Nice page. It's a bit more "focused on a single task" (providing art support), than the Educators page, which should probably cater to a variety of intents/roles. But something like that could be nifty. I just now copied over the "Welcome". MitchellNCharity 17:30, 20 June 2007 (EDT)

From SJ: The developers program lists specific reasons to contribute, for people who might want machines: Developers_program#Goals. Something to add to and update as the builds progress... and a place to add needs for licensing apps, specific types of content and other visual/display activities.

Also, additional inspiration: [1], especially high-level organization and navigation. They built this for us so we can use what seems good.

Augmentative Communication

Children and adults who cannot use their natural voice to talk can benefit from using augmentative communication. These children and adults may have various special needs such as cerebral palsy, developmental disabilities, or autism. These individuals benefit from various communication techniques: people use everything from writing with a pencil to pointing at letters, words, and symbols on a paper display, to using the most advanced computers systems available. Through the use of augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC, individuals can develop an effective communication system, despite their inability to use their natural voice to fully meet their communication needs.

There is potential for the One Laptop per Child project to help children and adults with special needs, who have communication disorders. Additionally, it is inspiring to consider the advantages other children with special needs may benefit from the assistive technology resources available through the use of the laptops.

Please contact me at samuel.sennott@gmail.com if you would like to participate in brainstorming this collaborative issue.

Educators Who Gave One Got One

How many of us are out there? I just received this great device last night and after reading many of the reviews it surpasses my expectations. Will there be a seminar at the national ed tech conference this summer? (ISTE) This project is aimed at foreign students and that is a wonderful goal, but the Give One Get One Idea seems great for U.S. schools too. (Every U.S. student who gets one also donates one to another child in the project.)

I've promoted the educational uses of computers for some time, including the Palm devices and keyboard devices, and this machine seems like a breakthrough. I read the 8 year old reveiwer who preferred his Leapfrog or a "real" laptop, and kids are our audience after all, but some of the resistance to one to one computing in schools is the expense and management of Windows or Mac computers and networks. This one reminds me of the Apples that were green and used the Newton OS (eMate) in the 90's. But I am hoping we can turn a corner with this OLPC vision and develop large-scale, student-centered, technology-based learning that will make a difference for our kids--especially digital divide kids.

Who else out there is not a developer but wants to play with these and try out the learning tools with kids in the U.S.? Ellen 01/04/
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Select
That's part of my question exactly. I am very curious about these machines, and I would like to see one in action. Will I be able to suggest content or activities without one in front of me? Veronica (vbrooks@sau16.org)

My name is Kyra Gaunt and I am an Associate Professor at Baruch College, the most diverse college in the U.S. My two cultural anthropology intro sections just launched a BARUCH COLLEGE'S ONE LAPTOP PER CLASS CAMPAIGN which we intend to do annually for Baruch students from 160 countries (and we speak 92 languages) to contribute to forwarding the OLPC mission exponentially through a viral video we created. We release it Dec 20th. With only two classes, one is 20 students the other is 26 students, we raised donations from the students and through students in our classes totaling $711 and we are not done. OUr deadline is Dec 23 the last day of finals. By having college students do a ONE LAPTOP PER CLASS game where each student donates $1-10 each, we could provides thousands if not hundreds of thousands of laptops to children in underdeveloped nations and parts of the US. College students giving back while they take their finals. Giving while we get educated. It's been a thrill. HERE'S OUR VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSWu6CLVL6Y?

This all began when I bought one and gave one in 2007. I love my laptop and this year I am giving it away to my 8 year old cousin. I don't use it enough but it's a great showpiece. I'll miss it! You can reach us at BaruchOLPC@gmail.com

Moodle?

Has anyone thought to include Moodle with the XO? It is a great distance learning tool. I cold be teaching a class of kids from here with ease via Moodle. Of course, there would have to be translation software in play. (I took Latin in high school). Veronica (vbrooks@sau16.org)
But there would be a wealth of support available worldwide.

Use in the US?

I work at a school for low-income middle school boys in Boston. I am curious if many OLPC laptops are distributed in the US ( I did see something about a district in South Carolina .... is there more widespread distribution than that?) Can we apply directly to OLPC? Or do we need to find a benefactor (might be very difficult) and then approach OLPC? Are these computers intended to be given to specific children, or would it be allowable to try to buy some and have them used almost like library books ... kids could sign one out for a period of time and then return it to a school-based computer bank/library? Not sure if this is the right forum for these questions, but if anyone can offer guidance, it would be greatly appreciated!

Where can I find statistics on the impact of OLPC?

I am looking for statistics on the impact of OLPC. In particular, I would like to know how many laptops have already been given to children and how many laptops are given per year. Can you please give me those numbers or point me to them? Rough estimates suffice.

Help with project management strategies for projects

Hello all,

I'm an educator in Ohio who is researching project management strategies for teachers to use in STEM high schools and other places where they are using project-based learning. I thought this community would be a great place to start. Can anyone point me to any articles or first-person accounts?

Wolfram|Alpha for Mobile

Request for a Presentation from a Laptop.org Representative

Please put me in touch with an Education Representative from Laptop.org. I would like to arrange a one hour presentation about "One Laptop per Child" including time for questions from educators in Canada. I would like the presentation to be held on a Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. EST in Brampton, Ontario Canada. The group of educators attending this presentation are from Beyond Our Classroom. We wish to learn about and help the "One Laptop per Child" project. - DavidSpencer.ca 11:39, 30 June 2013 (UTC)

What education and teaching in developing regions REALLY is, looks and feels like

rote learning: shouting over and over again what the teacher speaks out ... just type it into youtube and you'll get the idea. Nicolas NEGROPONTE sais it's soo boring, inhumane and ineffective, it's one of the top reasons why kids leave school: 7' video: Impact on teachers, parents, kids, society.

it is a real problem to retain real teachers in developing countries. Salaries are so low, teachers go to the private sector within their first year. Leaving the kids/village with a pseudo teacher stand in who has probably not finished primary education him/her self. With maybe very strange concepts of what teaching and kids are. And to make things worse, that person has to deal with a class of 45 to 240 kids who have ... no books. Fortunately some have a pen and no paper. All nice these Millennium Development Goals, but according to [Mark West, Associate Project Officer for Teacher Development and Education at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) http://eudevdays.eu/topics/ppp-achieving-quality-education-all], " ... it's often done nothing more than bringing kids to school indeed ... but only to a sort of empty classroom, with a teacher that hasn't finished primary education him/herself, no blackboard, or the chark is missing, let alone books for the kids. In Nigeria, e.g. many parents or kids left school again after 6 months because they didn't learn a thing. About 20% of the students in Nigeria manage to leave primary school after 6 years without passing a test in elementary reading, writing and calculus."

As these school kids give in their homework in this Egyptian school, they receive a beating with a ruler on their hands and a pulling on their hairs if they dare to pull their hands away. It rained thousands of emails when this appeared on youtube (it's been even banned from youtube) by people being shocked by this ... but what will be even more as an eye-opener is that the thousands of emails were drowned in hundreds of thousands of emails by Egyptian parents who thought this was the way to raise and transform kids into disciplined and responsible, docile young adults ! In MANY parts of the world, teaching and kids is to be understood as animals that need to be trained.